SE Down Tigers to Stay Alive at GAC Tourney

ENID, Okla. – Southeastern piled up 15 hits and lived to play another day as it picked up an 8-6 win over Ouachita Baptist in a win-or-go-home game on Friday morning in the Great American Conference Tournament in Enid, Okla.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 22-29 overall on the season and will now square off with the loser between Arkansas Tech and Harding which will be played at 4:30 p.m. Fruday.
 
Chase Keeton finished the contest with a trio of hits, while Wesley Mitchell, Carter Olson, Gage Dollins, and Ryan Kirk each logged two.
 
Brady Evans, Nick Mueller, Peyton Poole, and Austin Thorp each added one hit as every player in the Storm lineup had at least one hit.
 
Evans, Olson, and Mueller each had home runs, while Kirk doubled twice with Keeton and Thorp adding a double each.
 
Olson and Kirk finished with two RBI each, while Evans, Mitchell, Keeton, and Mueller drove in one apiece.
 
Colton Clawson got the start and tossed 3.2 innings in a no decision, allowing four runs on six hits with four strikeouts.
 
Cody Pfeffer followed in relief and logged his fourth win of the year as he allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits with four K's across 2.2 innings.
 
Carson Abbott closed out the contest for his third save of the season without allowing a run or a hit while striking out four.
 
Evans homered to lead off the contest and stake the Storm to a 1-0 lead out of the gate.
 
SE added on in the third, first bringing home a run on a Mitchell RBI groundout before Olson connected on a two-run shot to push the lead to 4-0 midway through the third inning.
 
The Tigers answered with a solo homer to leadoff the bottom of the third before bringing in two more runs and closing the Southeastern advantage to 4-3 through three innings.
 
OBU knotted the game at 4-4 an inning later with an RBI single.
 
The Storm broke the tie in the top of the sixth on a two-run double by Kirk that plated Dollins and Thorp, and Keeton pushed the lead to 7-4 later in the inning on an RBI single to score Kirk.
 
A Mueller homer led off the top of the seventh and extended the SE lead to 8-4 midway through seven innings.
 
The Tigers took advantage of an SE error and an RBI single in the bottom half of the seventh inning cutting the SE advantage to 8-6 which would hold up as the final score.